Night Owl Cards

Can you see that? You probably know what it is, even if it's difficult to see. That's a security tag. You can find them in random packs of baseball cards. They're about the worst kind of "hit" ever created. One of these was in a pack of Heritage that I bought last week. It caused the security alarm to go off as I exited Target. I hate that, because even though I don't bother to stop and turn around after the bell goes off, and no security guard comes running after me, and everyone seems to know that those things ring for random, innocuous reasons, I still feel like someone, somewhere thinks I'm getting away with something, like I'm shoplifting, like I'm a common criminal. Security devices are familiar instruments used by department stores in loss prevention, and employees are forever removing them from clothes, etc. But I don't know why they're still in baseball card packs. The majority of baseball card packs cost between $2 and $6...

There were so many comments on the last post about finding "hits" in retail packs/blasters that I thought I'd display another "retail" card, which came from a repack box bought at WalMart about two years ago. It's not as exciting as the Podres auto, but it's still pretty good for a repack box, especially now that Chutley is a Series champion. I just wish it was an authentic Phillies jersey instead of an "Authentic All-Star Workout-Used Jersey." (That conjures up visions of bat boys digging through piles of used, sweaty workout clothes to give a soaked undershirt to Mr. Topps man. "Hey, Jimmy, I'll give you 10 bucks if you go fetch me Ryan Howard's sock."). If you haven't read some of the comments on what collectors consider their best "hits" out of retail packs, take a look at the last post . There's some good stuff there. Feel free to add your own story, too. I feel like such a shill for retail sto...

I've mentioned this story in the comments on a couple of blogs, so I might as well actually tell it on my own blog. The card above isn't the greatest pull ever, and possibly not even my greatest pull ever (I don't know off-hand what that is). What makes the card semi-significant, at least to me, is that it was pulled out of a rack pack from a Target in Buffalo, N.Y. There are a variety of blogs out there, including many that I respect, that characterize retail packs as being for suckers. I'm sure there are several bloggers who never buy retail packs, or even blasters or boxes from retail outlets. All of their card shopping is done exclusively on eBay or from one of the many fine online card stores, or from the card shop in their area. And that's cool. It's the smart way to do things. Get a hobby box, where your chances of pulling an auto or something else super sweet are much better. Get something that hasn't been searched. Plus, you get it delivered right ...